Joint attention in infants at high familial risk for autism spectrum disorder and the association with thalamic and hippocampal macrostructure.

ABSTRACT: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heritable neurodevelopmental disorder. Infants diagnosed with ASD can show impairments in spontaneous gaze-following and will seldom engage in joint attention (JA). The ability to initiate JA (IJA) can be more significantly impaired than the ability to respond to JA (RJA). In a longitudinal study, 101 infants who had a familial risk for ASD were enrolled (62% males). Participants completed magnetic resonance imaging scans at 4 or 6 months of age. Subcortical volumes (thalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, basal ganglia, ventral diencephalon, and cerebellum) were automatically extracted. Early gaze and JA behaviors were assessed with standardized measures. The majority of infants were IJA nonresponders (n = 93, 92%), and over half were RJA nonresponders

SUBMITTER: Montenegro JTP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9441013 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature